top of page
Writer's pictureIndustrial Partner

Application of Machine Blades in the Recycling Industry

Recycling is the process by which plastic monomers are converted back into individual monomers. This allows the individual monomers to be reused in various ways and can be polymerised to give them qualities of virgin resin. The recycling process is one of the most difficult cutting applications due to the processing of various materials. This can cause premature failure and wear of the machine knives used.


To improve the performance of recycling blade, the following are needed:


  • First and foremost, the tool steel grade of the machine blade should have the right composition of Chrome along with apt proportions of tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, and vanadium. This plays a vital role in the hardenability, tensile strength and tempering stability of the blade.

  • It is essential to use knives that are heat-treated with the correct temperature cycle and tempered for stress relieving to ensure toughness and avoid corrosion.

  • The blades must match the cutting-edge geometry based on their application to avoid excessive wear-down and breakage issues.

  • The hardness of blades and the bevel configuration must be suited for particular applications.

By using high-quality blades tailored for specific applications and machines, the overall cost of maintenance is reduced, and thus the industrial process is more efficient.


The types of machine blades for the recycling industry are:


1. Plastic cutting knives- Having the right cutting tools for specified applications improves work efficiency and boosts profitability. The applications for these knives include polyethylene or polypropylene cutting, or plastic slicing, slitting, and trimming.


Plastic cutting knives are used in the production process of products like garbage bins, shampoo bottles, milk containers, soft drink bottles, plastic cups, etc. Plastic recycling industries work around the clock to recover reusable plastic waste to reduce plastic pollution and ease the pressure on virgin materials.


2. Granulator blades - Recycling blades are also referred to as granulator blades and are used to recycle almost every material chemically known to man. They granulate the material to prepare for the recycling process. Granulator blades come in the form of rotors or bed knives. While the rotors are spinning, the bed knives remain stationary as the rotors cut against them.


Granulator blades must be shock-resistant and cause zero blade breakage to avoid any damage to your recycling equipment. There are various configurations of granulator knives such as steep angle knives, short cord or high shear knives, straight cut knives, slanted rotor knives, twin shear configuration, etc.


3. Shredder knives - These knives are used for various applications like WEE recycling, cardboard recycling, plastic recycling, recycling of tires, and household waste. The primary emphasis is on producing knives that possess the required qualities like hardness, edge retention, and compression strength. With a deep insight into the right chemical composition and the quality of the steel used in the tool making, premium quality shredder knives are manufactured for recycling and shredding industrial needs.


4. Palletizer Knives - These knives are used for plastic extrusion, pelletizing and in the pulverizing industry and are applicable in the extrusion of PET, PPT, LPE, and HDPE. Pelletizing is the process of cutting extruded materials into small pieces known as pellets and these knives must be heat treated to numerous levels of hardness to ensure flexibility and clean cuts.


We at Industrial Partner are on a mission to provide our customers high quality and reliable industrial products for all their unique needs. Our team of qualified experts understands that every industry has distinct demands, and we support our clients by offering them the exact products they need.


Whatever your industrial needs… we can partner with you!



57 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page